HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1910        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3002

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Daniel Cahill

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to low-embodied carbon concrete.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1910        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3002

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act relative to low-embodied carbon concrete.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the following meaning:

(i)“concrete” shall mean structural and non-structural masonry, precast and ready mixed concrete building and construction materials.

(ii)“concrete mix” shall mean a specific combination of components including water, cement aggregate and other materials which are used to produce concrete products

(iii)"Environmental product declaration" (EPD) shall mean product specific Type Ill EPDs that conform to ISO Standard 14025 and enable the numeric GWP and environmental impact comparisons between concrete mixes fulfilling the same functions.

(iv)"Global warming potential" (GWP) shall mean a numeric value that measures the total contribution to global warming from the emission of greenhouse gases, or the elimination of greenhouse gas sinks, provided that results from the production and/or utilization outside Massachusetts shall be prohibited from inclusion in Lower carbon concrete green procurement specifications.

(v)“low embodied carbon concrete” shall mean concrete that has been verified to embody lower carbon emissions compared to the baseline embodied carbon emissions of conventional concrete.

(vi)“Low carbon concrete producer incentives” shall mean financial inducements offered to private concrete manufacturers and/or contractors to encourage the incorporation of lower carbon concrete materials and methods in concrete products procured by state agencies. Producer incentives include but are not limited to i.) bid discounts applied to offeror prices for concrete materials included in proposals for state projects, and ii. monetary performance bonuses that are awarded to concrete manufacturers that produce and deliver concrete products for state projects that have been verified to attain exceptionally low levels of embodied carbon.

(vii)“lower carbon emissions” shall be defined by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) with input from the stakeholder advisory group established in Section 2, subsection A 3(a) of this bill.

(viii)"Performance based specification" shall mean a contract provision that requires that a structural material achieve specified performance outcomes from the use of the structural material, including, but not limited to, outcomes related to the strength, durability, permeability, or other attributes related to the function of the building material for applied uses, as opposed to requiring that a  structural material be produced using a specific prescribed manufacturing process, design features, technologies, or proportions of constituent materials.

SECTION 2.  State contract law is amended in Massachusetts Building Code CMR 780, Chapter 81 and Chapter 90 by adding a new section

Section ___A to read as follows:

Subsection A. Contracts involving low embodied carbon concrete.

1. Any state or local contract for low embodied carbon concrete shall include provisions regarding contractor, subcontractor and worker product certification as follows:

(a) contractors and subcontractors doing work involving low embodied carbon concrete shall certify that all work completed or utilized on projects meets the minimum standards established under this section by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM)

2. Any certifications required by this section shall be kept current for the duration of all contracts. The Contractor shall issue periodic test reports to the Division from a laboratory certified to evaluate low embodied carbon concrete. The Contractor shall report any changes to the Division.

3. (a) the office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, in consultation with the Department of Energy Resources,  shall establish guidelines requiring the procurement of low embodied carbon concrete on projects deemed appropriate by such office.  Such guidelines shall implement a  process with minimum standards for contractors and subcontractors to  file with the contracting agency upon completion of a project. When establishing guidelines related to low embodied carbon concrete, the  office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall consider industry standards. The Division, in conjunction with the Department of Energy Resources shall establish a stakeholder advisory group appointed by the commissioner of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance consisting of: (i) two licensed professional engineers; (ii) two licensed registered architects; (iii) two representatives of the construction industry; (iv) two representatives of the concrete testing and validation industry; (v) two representatives of an accredited school of civil engineering; (vi) one representative from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC); and (vii) one representative each from the executive office of transportation, the executive office of housing and community development, the department of energy resources, and the department of environmental protection.

(b) the office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall consult with any relevant associations that set industry standards for the procurement of low embodied carbon concrete and shall consult with affected contractors and subcontractors to consider environmental impact as well as the impact on public health and safety.

(d) the office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall create a licensure process and establish a fee schedule for certification of low embodied carbon concrete.

4. The office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall also examine i. the use of incentives, including bid credits and performance bonuses to encourage the usage and innovation of low embodied carbon concrete on state agency projects; ii. the application of performance-based specification standards for concrete procured by state agencies; iii.the implementation of expedited Department of Transportation (DOT) evaluation, testing, and approval protocols for lower carbon concrete materials and methods; iv. the implementation of mandatory maximum global warming potential thresholds for concrete procured by state agencies; the utilization of environmental product declarations and/or other methodologies and tools that quantify the climate and environmental impact of materials, including but not limited to global warming potential.

5. In addition, the office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall also examine the use of implementing standards for performance-based specification, including but not limited to requirements that a structural material achieves specified performance-based outcomes from the use of the structural material, including but not limited to, outcomes related to strength, durability, permeability or other attributes related to the function of the building material for applied uses, as opposed to requiring that a structural material be produced using a specified manufacturer process, design features, technologies, or proportion of materials.  The office of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance shall examine the use of methods of compliance, including, but not limited to, maximum cement content specifications and specifications based on maximum potential to impact for global warming.

6. The commissioner of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance in consultation with the Department of Transportation and the stakeholder advisory group established in subdivision three of this section, shall examine the use of an expedited product evaluation protocol for low embodied carbon concrete products.

7. The guidelines established pursuant to this section as well as any recommendations for subsequent legislative action resulting from examining the use of incentives related to bid credits shall be submitted to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the House, the Transportation Committee and the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, the Housing Committee and the Committees on Ways and Means within thirty days of the issuance of such guidelines or within one year from the effective date of this section, whichever may come sooner.

SECTION 3. Whereas, the deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to establish standards for low embodied carbon contracts to assist to combat climate change, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.